


You Know What I Have to Do

by Rulerofyouall



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily (DCU) Feels, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, HIV/AIDS, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd-centric, Jason-centric, Lazarus Pit (DCU), M/M, Pedophilia, Prostitution, Protective Alfred Pennyworth, Protective Bruce Wayne, Protective Roy Harper, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Underage Prostitution, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28447485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rulerofyouall/pseuds/Rulerofyouall
Summary: While doing a case, Jason stumbles upon a man he had long since tried to forget. His past gets thrown on to the Bats' radar as he debates whether or not to kill him and struggles with his trauma.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Jason Todd, Batfamily Members & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd/Other(s), Roy Harper & Jason Todd, Roy Harper/Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 59
Kudos: 268





	1. The Goddamn Bastard

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing!

He liked to think that his mother hadn't knowingly sent him to this man. She hadn't had much of a choice, with her trying to hide her growing drug addiction from him and all, and this man was the only one who offered to babysit for free. That should have been a red flag. It wasn't often that someone offered free services with no strings attached, and it was unheard of in Crime Alley.

Jason had been very young when his mom sent him there for the first time. For a while, his new babysitter, a man named Kyle Haussman, had been a delight to be around. He had been injured a while ago after a run in with Batman, and ever since, he worked out of his apartment. The Todds lived just one floor up. His working situation meant that he was always available for Catherine to give Jason to whenever she wanted to get high, and as her tolerance grew, he found himself being babysat more and more.

Kyle started off nice. He always baked the best chocolate chip cookies and had an old television that he let Jason play around with. The three year old loved Sesame Street and the Wiggles. Kyle would also play games with him, like hide and seek or races, and he always seemed to enjoy the time he spent with Jason. Jason remembered that the man would even stay in the room when it was naptime, just sitting a few feet away and staring at him.

Eventually, Jason turned four years old, and he spent the entirety of his birthday with Kyle. His mom had been getting high, and his dad had wanted nothing to do with him. Kyle had given Jason four whole cookies that day, one for each year he had been alive. He had let Jason help him make the cookies too, picking him up and holding him close as he cracked the eggs into the bowl one after the other.

Jason had gotten introduced to a new game too, and this one was a little bit different than the others. It involved both of them removing their clothes. Now, Jason had been naked around Kyle before; sometimes, his role as babysitter would stretch out for a week at a time depending on how bad of a bender the Todd parents were on at the moment. The new game had to remain a secret though; Kyle said that it was too special for everyone to know about. It was a game played by only a select few lucky individuals.

As he grew slightly older, the games became more complex. Kyle added more elements into it, including kissing Jason and examining the child's genitals. Jason was a bit confused, but he didn't see anything wrong with his babysitter's actions. After all, it was only a game, right?

It quickly escalated from there. Kyle began telling Jason that no one would believe him if he spoke about their game; they wouldn't know anything about it. But for Jason, the game started to _hurt._ Kyle would repeatedly thrust up into the child, tearing the sensitive skin around his rear and causing him to bleed. He didn't seem to concerned about the blood though. Catherine had just overdosed and been sent to the hospital that morning, so he would be in charge of Jason for a long while to come.

Jason decided soon after that he didn't like the game anymore. It hurt him every time, and the pain would last for days on end. It felt horribly invasive, almost like he was being speared by Kyle, and his babysitter never seemed to care if he bled or cried or wanted to go home. Oftentimes, there was no one home for Jason to go back to. He was stuck there with Kyle.

He liked watching television with Kyle though. Kyle always let Jason commandeer the TV after one of their games, almost as though he was apologizing to him for causing him pain.

Kyle then asked him if he wanted to make their own movie, one that just the two of them would know about and be able to watch. Jason had wondered what the point of filming something was if no one else would see it, but Kyle had looked so excited. He agreed reluctantly.

The man had only had one camera, and he placed it a few feet away from the sofa. Jason was led to it and placed down on top of it, the lens focusing in on the child. Kyle pressed play, and then, the games commenced.

One day, Kyle had come bursting through the doors, shouting at no one. Jason flinched. He never liked it when people were loud, so he crammed his tiny body in the smallest crevice between the chair and the table.

"I'm sorry, blue jay. I just got some bad news." He had said. "I didn't mean to make you upset, but the doctor told me something that made me angry."

"What did they say?" Jason had asked, eyes rounding out with worry.

"They told me I was HIV positive." Kyle had admitted. "You probably are too, but you can't tell anyone, okay? Secrets are fun to keep."

"And telling them ruins the fun?"

"Exactly."

When Jason turned seven years old, Kyle refused to babysit him any longer. He had told a baffled Catherine and Willis that he did not want to babysit a child his age, and for that, Willis blamed Jason. Now, the child would be in his way.

He felt bad for them. Jason knew they were struggling financially, so he did all he knew how to do. He ran back downstairs to Kyle. This time, the man refused to let him into his apartment, but he gave him a few words of advice.

"Blue jay, let me tell you something. There are other people in this town who play that game you and I used to play. They'll give you money for it too; all you have to do is know where to look." Kyle had brought out a map and circled a few places on it. "I got a few buddies who might be interested here."

He had set off to find them that same night. It wasn't hard to slip out, what with Willis raging at someone on the phone and Catherine getting high in the bathroom. Kyle's buddies looked surprised to see him, but they were not disappointed. Instead, they were excited.

They were more violent than Kyle had ever been, but at least he got paid to put up with it. Neither of his parents questioned where he got this extra money from, probably assuming that he had started to pick pockets.

Well, he had been doing that too.

But the money he had gotten never seemed to go to the right things. Rent and taxes remained unpaid, and their pantry was barren. Willis had taken up alcoholism, and Catherine had bought even more drugs.

This led to her taking way too much at once, overdosing and dying in their apartment, and it was _all his fault._ If he hadn't started earning the money, she wouldn't have had enough to buy that many drugs. Willis grew even more violent.

He ran away, far away from the apartment that had been his home. There were a lot of other people living on the streets, and he was taken up into a group soon after. He was short and could pass as a child much younger, so he could work for more select clientele. At least, that was what they said.

They quickly took all of Jason's earnings and left him in the dust. He was on his own again.

Years later, he was still doing the same odd jobs, providing pleasure for older men and women, pick pocketing anyone who looked even vaguely well off. Unfortunately, Jason still hadn't realized how truly fucked up his game was.

He stole the tires off of the legendary Batmobile soon after, knowing that he could sell them at a high profit. The Bat himself had caught him, but instead of beating him, he brought him back with him with the promise of food.

That's weird. Maybe he wanted to play too?


	2. Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bats start investigating a ring of pedophiles.

Tim frowned as he typed furiously onto his laptop. They had started looking into a supposed ring full of pedophiles recently after Bruce had rescued a small child from one of them. That member, a woman named Sydney, had acted oddly during an interview with Commissioner Gordon, and after much prodding, she revealed that there were many other individuals involved. She had agreed to answer more questions and throw some of her friends under the bus if he would find a way to reduce her sentence.

Gordon had agreed reluctantly. He never liked it when a predator might get back out on the streets, but in doing so, they could get many more in prison. Tim agreed with the plan, searching into the list of names Sydney had provided. They included people named Mark, Kyle, Georgia, Frances and more.

Most of them were from Crime Alley. That complicated things a bit. Jason didn't like anyone intruding in his territory, but sometimes, it was hard to get ahold of him in order to work with him. He swivelled around in his chair, finding Cass sparring with Damian. They were pretty much all in the Batcave then (minus Jason because he was _never_ there), preparing for the upcoming night. Stephanie was sharpening some of the batarangs, and Dick was dancing in the background. Bruce was brooding, yet again, staring off at the second Robin's memorial.

"Has anyone heard from Jason recently?" His voice caused everyone to pause, even the two who were sparring.

"Tt, no. Why would I keep tabs on Todd like that?"

Tim pinched the bridge of his nose, already annoyed at Damian. "This pedophilia ring seems centered around Crime Alley."

"And he doesn't know about it?" Dick furrowed his brow.

"If he does, he hasn't mentioned it to us." 

The oldest brother paused for a moment. "Let me call Roy. He's in town right now, so Jason is probably with him."

_Of course he is._

He spun back around in his chair, finding the exact addresses of each member. He took note of each of them, backing them up on both hardware and software. They would have to work quickly; once these guys realized that the Bats were going after their buddies, they would disperse and become harder to find.

Dick tapped him on the shoulder a few minutes later. "He and Roy are coming over. Can you send them all the stuff you have?"

Tim nodded. "Sure. Are they going to join us on patrol tonight?"

"I'm not sure. Jason hung up very quickly."

He wasn't terribly surprised. Red Hood was famous for being incredibly protective over children, and he would no doubt be furious at learning that the operation was centered in his area of Gotham. Jason probably left almost as soon as he hung up and got dressed.

"Can I see the names?"

Tim jerked as their father materialized behind him. He hadn't even noticed the old man approaching, too busy thinking. "Errr, yeah." He moved out of the way, and Bruce in full Batman regalia leant over his laptop.

He scanned the names quickly, staring at one in particular for a few seconds longer than the other ones. Bruce stared hard at the screen, but otherwise, he looked emotionless.

"What do you think, B?" Dick crossed his arms from a few feet away.

"I don't want Jason taking this case."

Stephanie, who had since migrated towards them, looked incredulous. "There is no way he'll let that happen."

"He _can't_ be on this case." He repeated.

"Why not? Do you not trust Todd?" Damian asked out of curiosity.

Bruce put his hand on his son's shoulder. "I do trust him, and that is why I don't want him on this one."

"But why?" He pressured him. "Do you think he would be too violent?"

"I think that may happen, yes." He straightened his back. "Let me go tell Alfred that Jason and Roy are coming." Their father swept out of the room as silently as he had come.

They all looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds. Why would Bruce want Jason to stay away from this case? He knew Crime Alley better than anyone, so his expertise could prove to be essential. The Crime Alley kids trusted him too, more so than they did with the other vigilantes.

"Bruce probably thinks that he'd be violent with them." Dick mentioned. "We won't be able to get more information from them if they're _too_ roughed up."

Tim hummed a bit. "I'm not sure if there even is a ringleader. It seems like it is just a bunch of people with the same disturbed interests who know each other."

"There may be one still." Cass cautioned. "You might find them later."

This much was true. He was not about to make assumptions this early on.

Bruce's night had been going fine until now. He and a few of his children were going to go on their nightly patrol, catch a few criminals, and return to the Batcave with hopefully no injuries. Tim was supposed to do research on the group of pedophiles and NOT unearth trauma from his son's past.

_"When are we going to play?" Jason wondered out loud._

_Bruce had just taken the hungry child to his home. He had been stunned at how thin the boy had been, and once again, his urge to care for an orphan reemerged. Alfred had been delighted to have another child in the manor but also concerned about how bruised and battered he had looked._

_"What do you want to play?" He sat down next to him._

_The boy furrowed his brow. "You know....the game. The secret game."_

_Bruce had no idea what he was talking about. "Can you tell me how to play?"_

_His face fell. "You don't already know?" Jason had never encountered a man who didn't already know how to play. Was he even allowed to share with an outsider? Or would the others be angry with him for doing so?_

_"No." He shook his head. "You can teach me though." It had been a while since any child had wanted to play games with him. Dick had introduced him to a few back in the day, but that was a long time ago._

_"'Kay." The small child skipped over to Bruce. "You have to take your clothes off."_

_"What?"_

_"In order to play. That's like the first rule."_

_Ice gripped his heart. What sort of game was Jason talking about that would involve a grown man undressing in front of him?_

_"I can take my clothes off first if you want."_

_Bruce shook his head. "No, no, Jason. That's okay."_

_"So you will go first?"_

_He bit his lip. "Jason, who taught you this game?"_

_Jason frowned. "My babysitter. Why?"_

_"Your babysitter wasn't a good man."_

_"He was the best though! He didn't charge my parents any money for looking after me at all, and he baked cookies with me. He let me control his TV, and-"_

_Bruce interrupted him. "Jason, good people don't play that game."_

_"You don't think I'm a good person?"_

_"No, no, that's not it. Adults shouldn't do that with children. It's a crime." He touched his new son's (he just decided that this child was_ his _) shoulder, and he found that Jason was tense. "It hurt, didn't it?"_

_"Well, sometimes, yes." Jason looked confused. "But it made him happy."_

_Bruce bet it did. "That doesn't make it right, Jaylad."_

_"I play with other people too. If it was wrong, they would have said something about it."_

_"Not necessarily."_

_"So, we're not playing?"_

_He shook his head. "No," Bruce bit his lip. "You're not going to play again."_


	3. What the Fuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason goes to the Batcave only to be told he's not allowed on the case.

Jason's motorbike came screeching into the Batcave, going much faster than could possibly be safe. Jason was the one driving, and his partner clung to his back in order to not be thrown off. He kicked the stand into position and walked towards his siblings with no regard for the skid marks his tires left.

The others couldn't help but stare, still wondering why Bruce didn't want him on the case.

"Show me." He approached Tim, holding his hand out for the laptop.

"Errrr."

Dick dived in between them. "Jason, wait."

"What?" Jason seemed more irritated than usual.

"Bruce told us to not let you on the case."

"...He said what now?"

Damian scoffed. "Are you deaf, Todd?"

Jason grit his teeth. "Did he tell you why?"

Stephanie shook her head. "No. Do you know?"

"No," he scowled, lying. Bruce knew that he hated people who abused children. "Can I see what you are doing?"

"Tt, he only wants to know, so he can go behind Father's back." Damian accused.

_Shut up, brat. That's exactly what I was going to do._

"Do you want my help?" Roy offered, putting his hand on his partner's shoulder. "I know I'm not Jason, but-"

The door swung open, and Bruce swept down the stairs, his cape trailing behind him. He scanned the cave, eyes finding Jason and Roy, and based off of his expression, it was clear as day that he had hoped to return before his second oldest son arrived.

"Jaylad-"

"What the fuck, Bruce?" He stormed up to him. "You guys woke me up, made me _get out of my warm-ass bed_ , and now, you're telling me that you didn't want me here anyway?"

"Of course I want you here. I always do." He made to continue talking, but he was interrupted quickly.

"BRUCE!" Jason raised his voice.

Bruce clenched his jaw. "Jason, why don't you go talk to Alfred?"

"Are you trying to get rid of me now?" 

Roy rushed forward. "Jaybird, I don't think that is what he is doing."

His partner whipped around to glare at him. "Why aren't you taking my side?"

"I'm not taking anyone's side. Let's just see what he wants."

Jason sighed loudly in frustration. _Whatever._ As much as he wanted to know what sort of monsters had moved into his territory, he also hadn't seen Alfred in a while. At the same time, he could see him at any time, but those creeps could run at any moment. He didn't trust the others to not alert the culprits to their presence.

He let Roy slowly drag him up the stairs, but Jason made sure to send a venomous glare to Bruce the whole way up. Why wouldn't he at least tell him what he had done wrong this time? Why was he forcing him out of the Batcave? He hadn't _killed_ anyone in a long time, so what could he have done?

"It's been a while, Master Jason." Alfred was the one to bring him out of his thoughts. Roy had pushed him onto one of the seats across from the man he thought of as a grandfather.

"Sorry." He furrowed his brow and stared up at him. "What did I do to Bruce this time?"

The older man sighed. "You know that Master Bruce has overprotective tendencies. It is nothing that you did."

"Then what set him off this time?" Jason growled lowly, and Roy gripped his hand tightly.

Alfred's eyes flicked over to his partner. "Mister Roy, would you mind leaving the room for a few moments?"

He blinked for a few moments as the request registered. "Oh, yeah, okay." He stood up, only for Jason to grab him and slam him back into his seat.

"Roy stays."

As expected, Alfred looked slightly surprised, but he nodded his head. "Very well," he straightened his back. "There are individuals involved in this particular case that you have a history with, Master Jason."

 _Ohhhhhh, fuck._ Jason grimaced, suddenly wishing that he had let Roy leave the room. His boyfriend wasn't stupid, and he would be able to connect the dots from there. He had never told his partner about what had happened when he was a child. In fact, he had been hoping that he could keep him away from that for the rest of his life.

He watched as Roy's eyes widened, and he turned to Jason, saying, "What is he saying, Jason?"

"It's nothing."

"Doesn't sound like it."

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore." He shook his head.

Roy tensed. "It does if Bruce is making decisions based off of it."

"It doesn't affect me anymore!"

"Yes, it does!" He argued back.

Jason was thrown. "How can you say that if you didn't know before now?"

"I had suspicions." Roy admitted.

Alfred frowned, watching the two younger men argue. Had Jason been suffering to a point where others could guess what had happened to him? That concerned him. He knew that Jason used to have problems coping with everything, but that at least seemed to change as he got older. Apparently, it didn't.

"What gave you these suspicions?" The butler asked.

He made a face. "Jason talks in his sleep."

His partner pinched the bridge of his nose. He talks in his sleep? God _damn_ it.

Alfred stood up from his chair. "Do you understand now why Master Bruce is hesitant to let you in on this one?"

"He does; he just doesn't want to admit it." Roy ran his hand up his boyfriend's back.

He looked to Jason, but he didn't say anything. "Let me get you two some tea." Alfred broke the silence, shooting a glance behind his back as he left the room.

Roy grabbed Jason's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. He didn't resist, just letting himself sink into his partner.

"You understand why Bruce doesn't want you on this, right?"

Jason groaned into his shoulder, shrugging. "Shut the fuck up."

"Fair."

* * *

"Why isn't Jason allowed on this case?" Steph demanded as soon as Bruce turned back towards them. "He came all the way over here at fuck o'clock at night too."

Bruce cringed at the curse word but didn't show many other emotions. "He would not do well on this case."

Cass cocked her head to the side out of confusion. "What does that mean?"

"Jason has been in Crime Alley for years. He is too close to some of the people involved." The older man neglected to say that technically Jason himself _was_ one of the people involved. Knowing that would cause too much distress for his other children. They would become unfocused and aim for revenge rather than justice.

_But isn't that the same thing?_

No, it wasn't. Revenge did not involve due process of law.

 _They hurt your_ son _. Jason got HIV from one of them. They_ destroyed _him, left him broken for years._

Maybe he was still broken. Bruce couldn't tell these days. They didn't talk about what happened at all anymore, not like they did before Jason died. All he knew was that the Lazarus Pit had cured him of his HIV, so he was no longer in as much danger physically.

"Who does he know?" Tim read the list over once more. "Jason would've noticed they were...off, right?"

Cass touched her brother's shoulder. "Some people are good at hiding."

"I guess so." He frowned.

Something wasn't sitting right with him.


	4. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bats capture some of the pedophiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DONT TAKE ANY OF THE LEGAL PROCEDURES SERIOUSLY I KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT LAW

Dick narrowed his eyes as he looked at the street below him. He was surrounded by apartment blocks throughout Crime Alley, the home of a few of the pedophiles. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be many children out tonight. He hoped that meant that they had managed to find shelter safely and had not already been picked up by the creeps.

Tim had shown him the pictures and profiles of all of their targets, and he had backup waiting on the roofs of other buildings. He turned jumping to the next building and slipping onto the fire escape. He put up three fingers as a signal behind him, and in a few moments, Stephanie, Bruce, and Tim jumped down beside him. Cass had taken Damian to a different section of Crime Alley in hopes of catching them outside their homes.

No one was sure how Bruce knew where to look for these guys. Right before leaving, he had headed back upstairs to where Alfred, Jason, and Roy were, and he then came back with some ideas. Perhaps Jason had some ideas about the shadier parts of Crime Alley and could guess where these guys might hang out, but he was not sure.

"One of our targets lives one floor down." Tim mumbled. "He works from home, so I don't think he'll be out tonight."

"Which one?" Stephanie asked.

"Kyle Haussman." He responded. "We're here to deliver him to Commissioner Gordon only."

Dick narrowed his eyes. "We could get some evidence or something. We aren't the GCPD; it wouldn't be illegal search and seizure."

Tim knew that no one would give a fuck legally; usually, the Bats were invulnerable to the law. Regardless, he still had a bad feeling about this entire operation. Why hadn't Jason been allowed on? Red Hood was terrifying to pedophiles; in the past, they wouldn't have survived an encounter. Bruce must be trying to avoid the temptation that Jason would no doubt feel.

While he had been thinking, Bruce had dismantled the cheap security system and cracked the window open. The window led to a bedroom, presumably Kyle's, but thankfully, it was empty. He couldn't help but snarl just at the thought of the man. The other vigilantes might not know Jason's history with the man, but he did. If it wasn't for his personal morals, who knows what he would have done to the man? This was his son he was thinking about.

"Red Robin and I will go find Frances Smith." Stephanie tapped Tim on the shoulder. "She lives a few floors downstairs."

"And I'll stay with Batman." Dick agreed slipping in through the window his father was holding open for him.

They made sure to be quiet as they slowly cleared room after room, not wanting to alert anyone who may be in a different section of the apartment. Based off of Tim's information, Kyle should be working right now, so there shouldn't be anyone else there.

Then again, Bruce knew that working never stopped Kyle from "babysitting" Jason. Truthfully, the fact that he couldn't commute and had to work remotely probably only exacerbated the damage he had been able to do. Damn it, Bruce should have taken care of this long ago, but it had been difficult to get any information out of Jason. Once his son realized that what was happening to him was wrong, he clammed up and refused to give up the identity of his babysitter for years. He only discovered it was Kyle a few weeks before his son was killed by the Joker, and then, he had been so distracted by his grief that Kyle had slipped in his mind until it came up tonight. Bruce couldn't believe that he had let that happen. It was inexcusable.

The apartment was littered with the toys of young children, and he knew that Kyle had no kids of his own. Some of them had names written on them in marker with child's handrwriting, like "Peter" or "Jackson." He took note of these names, intending on passing them on to Commissioner Gordon to see what he could do with them. Normally, he would see to the children himself, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to keep his temper due to how close the case was to him. The Crime Alley kids didn't trust him enough either; they were all fans of Red Hood.

His bedroom was probably the most disturbing place of all. There were a few pictures on the walls, all of them of small children that definitely did not belong to him. There was also a drawer left open full of...films that looked like they had been burned onto a CD from a camera. Bruce didn't want to watch them, but he knew he would probably end up doing so. They were labeled differently than the toys, obviously written by an adult. They didn't have names on them either, just a few words like "little butterfly," "blue jay," or "firecracker." 

He leaned into the shadows and signalled for Dick to do the same when he heard movement from the next room. There was the clickity clack of fingers typing on a keyboard and the rolling of wheels on a chair. He narrowed his eyes and put his hand on the doorknob, Dick taking out his escrima sticks in preparation. Bruce held up three fingers, then two, then one, and then, he opened the door quickly.

Dick was on the man immediately; he barely had time to react or even get out of his chair. Bruce stalked into the room, staring at the man who caused the shit show that was his son's childhood, and yet again, he felt a dark urge rise up within him.

But he would not take revenge. He would make sure justice is served, and that would have to be enough. Merely killing him wouldn't punish him for anything. He deserved to suffer and rot in prison for the rest of his life, and he was sure he could convince Jason of that, especially since inmates who abuse children typically do not fare well in custody.

"What the fuck?" Kyle looked between the two of them, obviously scared.

"Commissioner Gordon is waiting for you a few blocks over!" Dick plastered a smile on his face, but Bruce could tell it was forced. "He would like to speak to you."

"Well, I don't want to speak to him." He scoffed.

The smile melted off. "You don't exactly have a choice."

"What, am I being arrested or something?" Kyle frowned. "You just said he wanted to speak to me."

Bruce walked closer to the man, purposefully putting his handcuffs too tight. "Yes."

"For what! I didn't do anything."

"You're a sex offender." Dick spat at him. "A _pedophile._ "

"You don't have any proof of that." He glared daggers at both of them.

His oldest son laughed at him. "You don't know? One of your buddies _gave you up_."

Kyle was silent for a few moments. "Who was it?"

"We're not going to tell you that."

"Which bitch told you that?" 

Bruce desperately wished to shut him up in any way possible. Preferably violently, but he needed to get him to talk. It was relatively easy to get him to Gordon as he did have that injury that made him work from home, but he wouldn't stop talking, yelling, cursing at both of them. He hoped that it didn't alert any other perpetrators that may be in the area and that Tim and Stephanie had Frances Smith handled.

* * *

Luckily, the other two were able to get Smith arrest, and Damian and Cassandra had found Mark Harper preying on children on the streets about a mile away. All three of them were separate interrogation rooms, and all of the Bats were on the prowl. It was now the next day, but they had not found any more of the individuals identified. While the others were searching, Bruce had been collecting evidence from their apartments. He had paid particular attention to Kyle for a reason none of the younger vigilantes knew, so they had had to pick up the slack with the others. 

"I want a lawyer" was the first thing that came from each of their mouths as Gordon entered the room. Most of the Bats stayed in the observation room on the other side of the glass, just watching each pedophile slowly crack under the pressure the commissioner put on them. Not even the best of lawyers would have been able to save them.

And then came Kyle Haussman. Bruce seemed almost twitchy as the interrogation was starting, enough that Dick noticed. He was glaring at the man, and the eldest son almost expected lasers to start coming from his eyes and burning the pedophile alive.

"We have reason to believe that you have sexually assaulted and groomed multiple children in the last decade and perhaps even longer." Gordon kept his voice in check, but he was clearly disgusted with the man. "The question is: are these claims accurate?"

The lawyer Kyle had been given, a greasy looking man with slicked back hair, turned to his client. "You don't have to answer that."

"Why do you have so many different children's toys around your apartment?"

"You don't have to answer that."

Kyle spoke anyway, shrugging. "They're second hand. The names don't actually mean anything."

"Why do you need so many?"

"Are you an idiot? I'm a babysitter, dude."

Gordon leaned in. "Why do you have so many pictures of kids in your bedroom?"

"I made a real connection with a few of them over the years, you know? I keep the pictures to remember them."

Dick saw Bruce's fists and jaw visibly tighten, and he could understand why. This guy was disturbing, and knowing what they did, his words made him sick to his stomach. Yeah, he bet that there was a "connection" or whatever between them. He wanted to punch the guy.

"Do you still talk to them?"

"No."

"Why?"

When he opened his mouth to make up some lie, his lawyer put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't answer that question."

"There were also a few films found in your apartment." Gordon looked smug, and Dick knew that they had him. "These were some of the images we found on the films."

He lined the table with numerous different pictures, all of different children. All of the Bats looked away from the images, not wanting to see what was on them, but Kyle seemed almost entranced by them. It took him a few minutes to shake himself out of his reverie.

"I have never seen these before." He jolted backwards.

"They were found in your apartment, in your possession. That's child pornography, you know?" Gordon glared at the man. "But we had to keep watching of course, and that's where it got interesting."

He placed a few more pictures on the table, and Bruce would admit that he did enjoy watching Kyle squirm.

"That looks a lot like you, doesn't it?" He mentioned conversationally. "That's sexual assault and child abuse."

Kyle looked away. Obviously, years of not being caught led to him being careless with where he stored his contraband. He hadn't even closed the drawer entirely, so the films were in view from outside the window.

"These were all children you used to babysit, right?" Gordon put a few more pictures out. The amount of incriminating evidence continued to stack up on the table to a point where even the lawyer looked worried. "Have you ever thought about how you ruined their lives? Or did that not matter to you?"

"Don't answer-" the lawyer shook himself out of his stupor but was interrupted.

"I didn't ruin their lives!" He burst out.

"You took advantage of them."

"I gave them a way to better themselves." Kyle spit at the other man. "You wouldn't believe where some of these children ended up."

Gordon did not look impressed. "I have a rough idea."

"The fuck is this guy talking about?" Tim narrowed his eyes from the observation room and set his mediocre coffee down.

"He's delusional." Cass responded.

Stephanie nodded in agreement. "He's saying anything to make himself look better."

Tim didn't like it. He had a feeling that Kyle was talking about something specific, but he couldn't put his finger on it yet.

"Just do some research on some of these guys." Kyle leant back. "Some of these guys got taken in by other people. It's _them_ you should be looking into."

"Batman, is he talking about the other members of his group?" Damian looked up to the man.

Bruce looked stiffer than anything they had seen before. "He may be."

"And who are you talking about?"

"You know, big shots. Rich people." It was Kyle's turn to look smug. 

That made Dick pause a bit. He would have expected Kyle to pass the children on to his friends, and none of them were particularly wealthy. Was the ring larger than they had thought? Pedophiles were not unheard of among the elite, but he hasn't thought that they were involved.

"Who?"

"I'm not saying shit without immunity." He grinned at the commissioner. "That's what the traitor got, right? I want that."

Dick glanced at Bruce. Somehow, his jaw had grown even tighter, and he swore that he would crack teeth if he felt anymore.

"Do you think it would be worth it?" Stephanie turned to Tim. "If he could tell us who else is involved, that could be really helpful."

"Not this guy." Bruce growled out before storming out of the room.

"Batman, wait!" Tim leapt up, but the door slammed shut in his face. "What is up with him?"

Dick shrugged. "I don't know."

He frowned. It must be personal, but when would Bruce have encountered Kyle Haussman before? Could it have something to do with why he wouldn't let Jason in on the case? The picture those puzzle pieces made was disturbing, but that couldn't be true. Surely, if something like that had happened to Jason, Bruce would have come down on Kyle years ago.

The idea wouldn't leave his mind. It stuck in there, stubbornly persisting, and Tim hated that that was the strongest theory he had at the moment.

"No. He gets no immunity." Bruce entered the interrogation room the same way he had left.

"Batman!" Gordon stood up out of surprise.

Kyle gripped his leg, where the old injury that Batman gave him once existed, and that made Dick snort. He was scared. Good. He should be.

"You don't need to give this guy any immunity." He repeated.

Gordon looked between the two before taking the vigilante into the corner, conveniently right by the two sided glass. "We might need some of this information."

"No, we already have it."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know exactly what he is talking about. You don't need to give him anything, and he doesn't _deserve_ anything either." Bruce stared hard into the commissioner, almost begging that he believe him.

Gordon stared back at the pedophile. "Okay."

"Good." As he walked out, Bruce wouldn't stop glaring daggers into Kyle.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Batman?" Stephanie looked confused. "What do you know that we don't?"

Bruce didn't respond to her, choosing instead to take back his place in front of the glass.

"I think I know what he's talking about." Tim spoke up. "Am I right, Batman?"

Only then did the older vigilante turn to look at him. "You've always been very intelligent, Red Robin."

He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth hard. "He deserves nothing."

"Can you tell us what's going on?" Dick started getting a little annoyed. "How are we supposed to work the best we can if we don't know what the fuck is happening right now?"

"Nightwing," he was cut off.

Dick shook his head furiously. "No, Batman. You need to stop keeping this shit from us."

"I can't say." Bruce responded.

"Why not? Open your fucking mouth and _speak,_ you idiot." Dick pulled at his head. "I'm sick and tired of you keeping secrets from us all."

Tim interjected. "What I think Bruce means is that here is not a good place to have this conversation."

"Yes." Bruce nodded his head robotically, having no intention of explaining anything at all.

"But this guy is garbage, okay? We already knew that." He continued. "And nothing really has changed between the time that we took him into custody and now."

Still annoyed, Dick turned back to glass, turning his gaze back to Gordon and Kyle yet again. If Bruce wouldn't tell him, he could always turn to Tim, and his younger brother did have a point. They were in public and in costume, so private conversations would not be a good idea.

Obviously, Gordon had made some progress during their argument. The lawyer was barely trying anymore, knowing that Kyle had already dug himself into a nice prison cell.

Kyle, however, had started running his mouth. "They're just really pretty, right? A _tabula rasa_ , blank slate. They have no scars, no imperfections, and they are always just so, so innocent looking."

Gordon was quite clearly done with the conversation. "I think we have all we need here." He collected all his pictures back into his file and left the room quickly, clearly disturbed by the pedophile's rambling. 

The lawyer left too, also grossed out by his client, and Kyle was led back to his holding cell. After that, the Bats were alone in the observation room.

"We're leaving, and you're talking, okay?" Dick pointed a finger at Bruce, and the other vigilantes nodded their heads seriously.

They left the room.


	5. Blue Jay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have a tough conversation.

"This is going to be a tough conversation." Tim murmured, making sure no one else could hear them. "He won't like this." His eyes flicked up towards those of Bruce.

"We don't have to tell them everything." He remained as stoic as ever. "Keep it vague."

He sighed. "Nightwing will get so pissed if you do that."

"And Jason will get pissed if I talk." He used his son's name rather than Red Hood. If anyone overheard, they would be less likely to connect it to Crime Alley's vigilante.

"That is also true." Tim frowned. "But they need to know."

Bruce eyed him warily. "Why? Why do they need to know?"

"To ensure justice." He said simply.

"It would just distract them."

Tim shrugged. "Maybe. Or it would make them more focused."

"I can't say anything without asking Jason for permission." Bruce shook his head. "This is...private."

He nodded in agreement. "Gordon is giving us copies of the evidence....he wants to know if we can find any others like Haussman from the films." Tim looked over his shoulder to where his siblings were arguing with each other and lowered his voice again. "I think we're going to have to look through them before anyone else gets a chance to."

Bruce's eyes widened as he understood what his son was implying. "I will do it on my own, Red Robin. You do not need to force yourself to watch it."

"I need to make sure that no one sees _his_ film." Tim pressed. "Please. I just need to be sure. I don't want him to accidentally see it."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Red Robin, the original copy is still in police custody. It is evidence."

"So?"

"We cannot remove it."

"Batman, don't you have any idea what that might _do_ to him?" He stumbled forward a few steps and gripped his father by the shoulder. "It has to be _destroyed._ "

Bruce sighed, wanting desperately to do as Tim suggested. He didn't want anyone seeing those films and knew that they would be played over and over again looking for evidence before even being presented to a jury. Jason deserved so much more than that.

"You understand, right?" Tim's eyes burned into his.

"I wish we could, but we _can't._ Okay?" He tried to convince him. "The more evidence, the more likely it is that that man will never see the outside of a prison cell again."

His son huffed. "Jason won't like it."

"That's why he's not on the case."

The two of them turned and walked back to the others. Stephanie had left the precinct a little while earlier in order to raid a nearby bakery for snacks, sensing that the discussion they were going to have would require such comforts. She had come back by the time Bruce and Tim came back however, and now, she and Cass were snacking on bat themed cake pops.

"I will pick up the evidence." Bruce gruffly commented before turning to his oldest son. "Nightwing, take everyone back to the Batcave. I will meet you there."

Dick looked him up and down suspiciously. "And then, you'll explain how you know so much shit, right?"

Internally, he sighed, but he showed nothing on the outside. "I will say as much as I can."

That wasn't the right answer. 

"Batman, you said you would explain! Why do you always keep us in the dark?" Dick fumed, glaring holes into Bruce's head.

Stephanie nodded. "He has a point, you know."

"Shut up." Tim groaned. "I will go with Batman to get the evidence. We'll meet back at the Batcave."

* * *

They barely even got to unload the box of evidence from the Batmobile before the other vigilantes turned towards them expectantly. Bruce nodded towards Tim, gesturing towards the box of films. The younger man grimaced. He wanted Tim to try to find Jason's film before the others got too much information. Did Jay even have a film? Tim wasn't sure if the pedophile had recorded every single child or not.

Alfred turned in his chair and eyed the younger vigilantes nervously. The older man had known what they were investigating at that specific time, and clearly, they had become suspicious.

Bruce sent him a look.

"Master Jason is upstairs. I'm sure he would appreciate your company, Master Bruce." The butler lied, knowing very well that the benched antihero wouldn't like it at all, but he would hate being revealed even more.

"Thank you, Alfred." Bruce quickly stripped himself of his gear and turned tail towards the stairs.

"Father, you did tell Richard that you would explain yourself for once." Damian didn't look interested in the conversation too much, having wandered over to Ace.

Cass nodded. "You said."

"I did." He ran a hand through his sweaty hair. "How's Jason doing, Alfred?"

"He wants in on this case still." Alfred looked regretful. "However, Mister Roy is trying to distract him at the moment."

Cass cocked her head to the side, still curious from earlier that day. "You said you knew what he was talking about."

"I did."

"Who?"

Bruce bit his lip and sighed for the billionth time that day. He loved his children, but they were exhausting. He had raised them to be persistent. Obviously, they were using those skills against him now.

"Yeah, Bruce, who?" Dick looked up. "If there's another guy involved, we have to know. They were a rich person, right?"

He nodded numbly, not really paying attention anymore. Kyle had accused him of...taking advantage of his son. While he knew very well not to trust the man, it still made him wonder. Did anyone else think he used his children like that?

"Bruce?" Stephanie raised an eyebrow at his silence.

Tim cleared his throat. "Haussman was talking about Bruce."

That threw them more than anything else that day had. They didn't seem to put the puzzle pieces together like he had. All of them wore equally confused faces as they knew that Bruce was not the sort of depraved being Kyle implied he might be.

"How are you related to all this?" Stephanie gestured around herself vaguely.

"Haussman said that one of his victims went on to be near him." Damian arched an eyebrow, looking up from the Bathound that had taken all of his attention. "Who was it?"

He couldn't expose Jason like this. He deserved to have the choice to tell the others on his own terms when and where he wanted to, and Bruce refused to take that away from him. His other children were good at detecting lies however, so he would have to leave some truth in his words.

"Years ago, I encountered one of these children. I...helped give him a better life. I found him a place to stay and gave him food and whatever he wanted." Bruce worded his explanation carefully. He didn't bother obscuring the pronouns since the victims were split roughly 50/50.

"He might have assumed that you had trafficked the child somewhere." Dick murmured to himself. "Is he still around? Could he provide a testimony for the court case?"

Tim's eyes flicked over to Bruce, who still showed no sign of any lie (or emotion for that matter). "He might not want to come forward."

"I can ask him." And he would, but even if Jason agreed, it would be difficult since he was, well, dead in the eyes of the law.

Stephanie hummed as she ripped open the bag of cookies she had bought from the bakery. "What's next?"

"I want you four to head upstairs and take a break." He gestured to everyone but Tim. "Tim wanted to help me go through this evidence."

Damian pursed his lips. "But father, won't it be quicker if we all help?"

"Don't you have homework to do?" He raised an eyebrow in amusement.

His youngest son ducked his head a bit, caught, but to be fair, he couldn't care less about his homework. It was for his Spanish class. He already knew the language, so what was the point in doing it? Nevertheless, he turned on his heel and trudged loudly up the stairs, making sure his father knew _just_ how much Damian didn't want to go.

Stephanie shook her bag of cookies. "I'm going to go hang out with Jason and Roy, I guess. Make sure they're not doing _shenanigans._ "

"Fine. Just, go." Bruce squeezed his eyes shut. "Relax." He watched them as they walked up the stairs, making sure the door shut all the way behind them.

Tim sighed, cracking open the box of evidence. "If we find Jason's....I am not watching that one."

"I don't expect you to." Bruce handed a stack of the old fashioned films. "Try to find as much evidence against him as you can, but take a break when you need to. Seeing this sort of thing is...draining."

His son nodded his head solemnly, running his hand along the labels. "Are these nicknames?"

"I believe so. It'd be less obvious that writing their actual names on it." 

The slowly made their way through the first film, titled "sunflower." It was a more recent one, probably made only about four years ago. The subject of the film, a young black boy of about six years of age, haunted the back of Bruce's mind. He couldn't help but see his _own_ son, his _own_ boy in that child's place, and he hated that Jason probably had been exactly there only a few years earlier.

They learned nothing new from any of these films. Unless Kyle told them, there was no way they'd be able to figure out who these kids are. After all, he almost never charged for his 'services' as a babysitter, something that just made more and more poverty stricken parents come running to his doorstep. It was disgusting.

Tim read through some of the titles, reading them one by one. His breath caught in his throat as his fingers found one with a suspicious title, and the younger man shook himself. "Bruce?"

"Yes, Tim?"

"I....I don't want to look at this one." He held the film out with a shaky hand.

Bruce nodded his head. "Okay," he said, looking down at it. It was titled 'blue jay.'

* * *

Jason and Roy were not, in fact, doing shenanigans but reading. Well, Jason was reading. Roy mainly stared off into space, obviously thinking hard over something, but the four of them could not determine what.

"What's up, bitches?" Stephanie dramatically collapsed onto a nearby loveseat. She put her bag of goodies on the coffee table in front of her and turned towards the others.

Jason looked up from his book with a blank face. Silently, he slipped his bookmark in and closed it, and they could finally see the cover. It was _Pride and Prejudice_ again, which surprised Dick. Wasn't he reading _Anna Karenina_ earlier? He had just started it too, so had his brother read the entire book (and it was thicccc too with all the cs) in that short amount of time?

"Where were you?" He asked.

"Just at the station." Dick shrugged.

Damian glared at the eldest for speaking. "Father said that Todd was not on this case. We should not be answering his questions."

"There is no harm in that, Dami."

He scowled at the nickname. "If Todd could be trusted with the information, he would have gone to the station with us. Obviously, father thinks that he will become too violent."

"Damian, do us all a favor and shut the fuck up, yeah?" Roy shook himself out of his reverie and glared at the boy. Jason himself looked away and ignored his brother.

"Harper, I-" the youngest child was clearly irritated with the other man, but he was interrupted.

"How about we change the topic of this conversation?" Stephanie interjected.

"Yes, please, no fighting." Dick pinched the bridge of his nose.

Jason shook his head. He wanted to know what specifically they had been doing, and Bruce certainly wouldn't tell him anything. He deserved to know. Bruce didn't let him on the case due to his history with it, but he must know how much Jason cared about it. He didn't feel comfortable with them working it and keeping him completely in the dark. Did they know about Kyle? Had they encountered him yet?

"Do you want a cookie?" Stephanie finally moved to completely rip open the bag, spilling the treasure on the table. There were sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and...chocolate chip cookies.

Jason frowned.

_"Hey, blue jay." Kyle kneeled down next to where he had been fiddling with a stuffed tiger. "What are you doing?"_

_"Mr. Tiger is playing with Nancy the Narwhal." He held the two dolls up, so his babysitter could see._

_The older man narrowed his eyes. "What are they playing?"_

_"The game! The secret game." Jason blinked up at him._

_His jaw tightened. "Do you...speak like this around others?"_

_"No, you said not to." He looked down at the two toys in his lap. "Did....did I do something wrong?"_

_Kyle sighed. So Jason hadn't been obvious in front of anyone else. If he had two toys play the 'game' in front of or even worse, explained it to his parents, namely Catherine, he would be out of a job instantly. Not that he was getting paid money._

_"No," the babysitter grasped the boy underneath his armpits and lifted him into his arms. "You didn't. If you want to play the game, here is the best place to be."_

_Jason kicked at the air a bit and gripped his shirt tightly. The stuffed narwhal fell onto the floor, forgotten. "Where are we going?"_

_"To the kitchen. I made you cookies."_

_The young boy's eyes brightened. "You did?" The kicking increased in tempo._

_The cookies Kyle made were not bakery quality, but they were by no means shitty. Jason didn't care either way. The Todds upstairs rarely had money for food in general, let alone desserts and sweet treats, so it was a rare occasion for the child. Kyle sat down on the other side of the table, smiled, and just stared at him as he happily chewed on the cookies._

_Eventually, Kyle spoke up. "Come on, Jason. Let's go play now."_

_Jason frowned. "But the game hurts me."_

_"Come on. I'll turn on the Wiggles for you if you do."_

"Hey, Jason, you here?" Roy snapped his fingers in front of his face, and he shot back into awareness immediately.

"Are you okay, little wing?" Dick furrowed his brow, looking his younger brother up and down. 

"Yes," he coughed a bit. "I was just...thinking."

Stephanie bit into her cookie. It was chocolate chip. "Clearly. What about?"

"N...nothing." He shook his head, trying to get rid of the fuzzy feeling in his brain. "I'm...going upstairs."

Jason stood abruptly, turned tail, and all but fled, all the while ignoring the confused yet worried looks sent his way by the others.


	6. Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason does some sleuthing of his own

_"Is this the kid?" One of the tall men asked._

_The other one nodded his head in response. "I think so. Kyle called him blue jay, and doesn't he have the prettiest blue eyes you've ever seen?" He leered down at him._

_Jason cocked his head to the side. "He told me to go to you if I need money."_

_"Yes, we can give you money." The first one agreed. "As long as you give us something else in return."_

_He straightened eagerly. "Of course! I'll do anything."_

_"Good. I like that quality in you." He put his hand on Jason's right shoulder and turned him towards the run-down car he had parked on the side of the road. "Get in the car, yeah? I'll take us somewhere where we won't get caught."  
_

_Jason frowned. "Caught? Why would we need to worry about being caught? We aren't doing anything wrong."_

_"No, we're not, but other people don't know about the game, you see? We keep it a secret from them." It was still the first man. "My name is David. That's Geoff."_

_"Jason Todd." He grinned brightly at them and accepted the hand that Geoff offered to him._

_He skipped happily the whole way to the car. Kyle had taught him how to make money by_ playing _! Sure, the game often hurt him, but it would be worth it if he could make some money for his family, right? Perhaps his dad wouldn't be so angry then. Willis was often upset over their financial situation and took to taking it out on Jason and his mom, and while Jason would prefer to be beat over his mom, he would rather no one be beat at all. This would solve all his problems. He had tried pick pocketing, and while he had never been caught, it didn't exactly give him enough cash to be useful. It wasn't like any of his targets in Crime Alley had a lot of money on them._

_"Where are we going?" He looked up in between the two front seats of the car where the adults were sitting, not having bothered to use a seat belt._

_David, who was the driver at the moment, looked at him from the rear view mirror. "Geoff's apartment. He lives far away enough from everyone else."_

_Why did they need to be far away? It wasn't like there was anything wrong with what they were doing. He and Kyle used to play the game all the time, just one floor away from where his parents lived. He shrugged. Oh, well. He'd have to go with these two men in order to keep playing, and that was what he wanted to do. Playing the game would give him money. Plus, it was fun to keep secrets._

_"Kyle was right," Geoff turned around in his seat. "You are cute."_

_He blinked owlishly up at the man. He had been called cute before, mostly by his mother and Kyle, but that couldn't be true, could it? Cute children had enough money to shower every day. Cute children didn't have scars from times his dad had lost his temper, yet this man had thought he was cute as well. Jason wasn't sure why, but the way these men and his mother called him cute were...different. It was confusing. His mother's voice always had an undertone of love and affection, but these men's voice had a different vibe to them._

_Once the car stopped, Geoff opened the door and picked him up, causing Jason to laugh a bit. "You should really use a seat belt, you know. Who knows what could happen on the roads?"_

_His mother had said the same thing to him time and time again, but Jason rarely listened. If he were to really get into a car accident, the Todds wouldn't have enough money to send him to a hospital anyway, so it didn't matter if the seat belt saved him or not. David opened the door and let Geoff and Jason in, following them and flicking the lights on._

_It was...different from Kyle's apartment. Probably because it wasn't an apartment at all. Geoff lived in the suburban area of Gotham, a place he had never visited before. Not a lot of people lived around here, so houses were sparse. They were right, of course they were. There was no one else around to catch them. A dog's bark cut through the air._

_"You have a puppy?" Jason bounced a little bit in Geoff's arms. "Can I see them?"_

_Geoff laughed a bit. "He's not a puppy, but yeah, sure thing."_

_A chocolate lab tore through the kitchen, making a stop in the living room by Geoff's feet. He put Jason down, allowing him to carefully pet the dog's fur. It had been a while since he had had a dog. Well, not a while, he supposed, but it seemed like a while in the life of a seven year old!_

_"I used to have a puppy. His name was Sparky." He let the dog lick his hand and laughed._

_"Oh, yeah? What happened to him?" David got out a bottle of orange juice and poured glasses for the three of them._

_Jason's eyes turned sad almost immediately. "My dad didn't like him, so Sparky is dead now."_

_"Your dad killed your dog?"_

_"Yeah. He was too annoying." He paused for a moment, silently accepting the glass of orange juice. "Dad doesn't like annoying things."_

_Geoff nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, I can pick you up and take you here any time you want. You know, to get away from your dad and to see Theodore here."_

_"Okay!" He grinned, bouncing over to the two adults._

_"Why don't you go wait for us in my bedroom, yeah? We'll be there in a moment."_

Jason Todd woke with a start to his boyfriend shaking his shoulder. He frantically looked around the room, trying to find an enemy, any environmental factor that could have caused him to have such a dream. He hadn't dreamed of David and Geoff in years; it was mostly just Kyle. Eventually, he forced his eyes to focus on Roy's, staring into the concerned expression he had on his face.

"What?" His voice was hoarse as if he had been talking loudly or even perhaps screaming in his sleep.

Roy cleared his throat. "I...heard you screaming. I thought you'd appreciate me waking you up before anyone else noticed."

"Thanks," he groaned, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"

"About three in the morning." He shrugged. "Patrol ended a little while ago."

Jason was awake instantly, sitting up so quickly that Roy had to scramble backwards to avoid being hit. "So, the Batcave is empty?"

"Should be, yeah." Roy yawned, stretching his arms up to the ceiling. "What, you want to go for a joy ride or something?"

"Or something," he agreed, leaping out of bed and pulling some clothes on. "Coming with?"

He nodded. "Always."

* * *

As expected, the Batcave was empty. It was silent too, except for the beating of bats' wings up towards the ceiling. The Batcomputer was still on, but that wasn't surprising. Tim often forgot to turn it off before heading upstairs, and he was usually the last one to leave the cave. Thankfully, that meant that no one would notice someone randomly logging on after everyone went to sleep.

He took the chair, spinning around a few times before coming to a stop in front of the computer and looking at all the different case files they had on it. It should be easy to find the ones he was looking for, right? The Bats had made the pedophilia case their first priority, so logically, it should be in 'Recent.'

And it was.

"Are you sure you want to look at that?" Roy asked nervously from behind him.

"Of course, I do." Jason snapped back at him before pausing and clearing the green from his mind. He started again. "Why?"

The archer jumped up to sit on a nearby table. "You obviously just had a nightmare, Jaybird, and don't even try to argue that point with me. It was hella obvious."

"Your point?"

"You should do something, you know, relaxing, so that you calm down and stuff." He shrugged. "Dinah does it all the time."

Jason rolled his eyes. "This is more important." He scrolled through the list of names, finding quite a few that he recognized from the old days, but he clicked on Kyle's file first. So they had found him, and Bruce hadn't even thought to tell him? He hated being left in the dark. Instead of having some sense of security and safety, his mind was clouded with thousands of different 'what if' scenarios.

Apparently, Kyle was in police custody. _Fuck_. If there was one thing he didn't like messing around with, it was the GCPD. They were mostly idiots or in the pockets of the elite, and the few that were okay always wanted to cuff Red Hood, throw him away, and forget the key. God damn it, all he wanted to do was shoot the bastard in the head; was that too much to ask? It was Batman and Nightwing who found him, but that didn't make Jason as nervous as he thought it would. Dick would never have been able to hide his concern and overall mother hen-like behavior if he knew Jason was involved, so it was safe to say that Bruce never told him. Good. However, it also meant that the coppers probably raiding Kyle's apartment for goodies like the film Jason knew Kyle had of him. It was very possible that the police had it in their evidence locker, and it was also very possible that the Bats got a copy of it as well.

His eyes swiveled over to the large box on a table a few feet away. The box wasn't entirely filled up, thank God. That would have been quite a lot of kids. Some of the CD cases had been opened and were strewn about on the table, but none of them were the one he was looking for. While Kyle had recorded their...encounters many times, he burned every single one of them onto the same disk, so he didn't need to worry about finding multiples. It still felt like finding a needle in a haystack though.

"What are you looking for?" Roy warily eyed the CDs, knowing what would be on them. Whatever Jason had been dreaming about, it was clearly brought on by the case, and he wasn't even working it.

"CD."

"Which one?"

"...blue jay."

The archer threw up a little in his mouth as he watched his partner tear through the box with renewed vigor. Was that what the pedophiles had called him? It seemed like an innocent enough name, but knowing where it came from angered Roy. Plus, he knew what sort of content would be on these CDs; they were most likely all pornographic and displaying years of abuse to the watcher. He hated knowing that his Jaybird had one. Several of the cases on the table were already empty, having been screened for any more evidence the Bats could get from it. Sighing, he walked over to the computer and pressed the eject button, and a CD popped out almost immediately.

"Errrr, Jason?"

"What now?"

"I found it."

His partner almost materialized in front of him, eyeing the computer as though he wished it would catch on fire. An eerie green glow seemed seemed to fluoresce from his eyes in the darkness of the Batcave. Roy backed up a bit, giving his Jaybird some space to do as he pleased.

"They _watched_ it."

"It would seem so."

"Bruce had to have known that it was mine. Why would he watch it?" He lifted his hands and tugged on his hair hard.

Roy shrugged. "He probably wanted to see if their was any more evidence that he could find." He paused. "Not that I agree with him for watching it or anything."

"He could have asked _me_ if he wanted more information and not go behind my back to watch this shit." He plucked the CD from the player and threw it on the ground, crushing it under the heel of his boot until it was in millions of sharp pieces.

"Well, that's one way to get rid of it." The archer shrugged. "You looking for anything else?"

Jason was breathing heavy even if he hadn't been doing anything that caused any physical effort. "No. Not right now. Let's go....out."

"Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. Not here."

Roy nodded his head before grinning a bit. "You want to hotwire the Batmobile?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

* * *

"Where are Jason and Roy?" Dick scratched his head in confusion at the breakfast table. "They're normally awake by now."

Damian glanced upwards. "It would hardly be the first time Todd has skipped a meal here."

"Yeah, but Roy wouldn't. He loves food to much." He narrowed his eyes, tapping on the table. "And Roy would usually drag Jason down with him."

Stephanie shrugged. She hadn't gone back to her apartment last night, having taken up temporary residence in one of the guest rooms. "Who knows? Jason seemed pretty upset yesterday."

"Yeah, that's true." Dick bit his lip. "I don't like it."

Tim furrowed his brow and looked to Steph, who was sitting right next to him. "Jason was upset?"

She nodded. "You know him. He did that thing where he randomly decides to leave the room after we get concerned about him."

"Do you know what...upset him?" Bruce asked cautiously. He knew that his son was far from happy at the moment. Jason didn't like being excluded from the case, but at the same time, he would also be struggling if he was working on it.

Cass shook her head. "No."

"It was weird." Dick commented. "He seemed to get freaked out over nothing."

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "So you did nothing that would be upsetting?"

"Not anything that I can think of." His oldest son shrugged. "He just...zoned out for a while, freaked out a bit, and then left to go upstairs. Roy followed him pretty quickly."

He frowned, meeting Alfred's eyes from across the table. "Can you explain what you were doing before this happened?"

"Yeah, we left the Batcave like you said, and Jason was reading. We talked a bit. Steph opened her cookies, and then, it happened." Dick shrugged. "I have no idea what would have upset him."

"Miss Stephanie, what types of cookies did you bring?" Alfred turned to the young girl.

She frowned a bit, not understanding how that related to Jason being upset, but answered anyway. "You know, I got basically everything the bakery had: sugar, peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip..."

"That's it!" Bruce straightened his back and sat up taller in his chair. "That's what upset him."

"My cookies?" She furrowed her brow.

Alfred agreed. "Master Jason has many things that....upset him." He tried not to use the word 'trigger,' knowing that it would make his siblings more curious. "Chocolate chip cookies is one of them. That's why I never make them anymore."

"I was wondering about that. You stopped making them completely once Jason became Robin." Dick commented quietly as if he was speaking to himself only.

Damian arched one of his eyebrows. "How can a simple cookie upset Todd? He is not that much of a pansy."

Bruce silenced his youngest son with a look. It would be difficult to explain away this one without revealing too much of what had happened to his second child, and he wasn't sure what to say instead. Regardless, Damian's word choice was inappropriate. Anything could be triggering depending on the circumstances people find themselves in. He himself had encountered victims who were triggered to similar objects such as Jello (one of the only foods they had given her while hospitalized) and even certain songs that people would sing to themselves while in mortal danger to calm down. It didn't have to be one of the 'classic' triggers like loud sounds or the sight of blood, and his son needed to learn that quickly.

"You may ask Master Jason about that later, but I would use a different word choice, Master Damian." Alfred responded after Bruce had been silent for a little while. He paused for a moment before speaking again. "I will go check on Master Jason and Mister Roy."

Time passed slowly at the breakfast table. Since Alfred left, no one had spoken up, seemingly deep in thought. Bruce found that he didn't mind the silence; at least then, he wouldn't have to answer any of the questions he knew should be left to Jason. That didn't mean that he liked seeing his other children so distressed, however. Tim's eyes had been focused on his plate for the conversation, not daring to look up in case they realized that he knew more than they did. He wasn't eating much either, simply pushing stuff around on his plate with his fork. A lot of his kids were doing that actually. Stephanie looked guilty. She might not realize why her cookies were so upsetting to Jason, but she was still the one that introduced them to the group yesterday. Dick's jaw was clenched so hard that Bruce was afraid he would crack a tooth, and his eyes were not fixated on his plate but at Bruce.

"Are you keeping stuff from us again?" He accused after the silence became overwhelming.

"No. It is just not my place to explain." Bruce responded.

Dick pinched the bridge of his nose. "This wouldn't have happened if we had known they upset him so much."

Before he could respond, the butler returned, looking like he had rushed down the stairs. "Master Jason and Mister Roy are not in their room nor anywhere else they would normally be."

"They could've left." Stephanie spoke up. "They are adults." She pointed out.

Bruce didn't care. Call him overprotective or a helicopter parent or whatever, but he liked to know where his children were and if they were well at all times. He stood from the table. "I am going to go search in the Batcave."

The others, who all seemed to want to find an excuse to leave the awkward atmosphere around the table, jumped up too, and they moved down the stairs quickly. The Batcave quite honestly looked like a wreck. The evidence box on the table had been sorted through carelessly, and there was CD after CD piled high on the table next to him. Bruce briefly noted that the Batmobile was missing before finding the shattered CD next to the Batcomputer. Of course Jason would find that.

"What was he doing down here?" Dick surveyed the mess with one eyebrow raised. "I knew he wanted in, but he's usually not so reckless with evidence."

Damn it, this was why Bruce hadn't wanted him down here at all.

"Angry?" Cass asked.

He nodded his head. "Yes, I think Jason is furious. With me, mostly." Bruce ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

Tim crouched down next to the pile of shattered CD pieces and carefully sorted together, quickly coming up with the nickname that had once been written on it. He winced, understanding why his older brother had destroyed it. "You think he's going to go find Haussman?"

"He's in police custody. Red Hood wouldn't go running in without a plan." Dick reminded.

"But he'll come up with one soon enough."

Bruce agreed. "We'll find him before then." They had to, or Bruce wouldn't know what he would do with himself. He wouldn't hurt _Jason_ (what sort of monster would do that no matter what their kid did), but he'd certainly be carrying a lot of guilt for a while if Jason lost control like that.


	7. Runaway Robin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason makes a plan  
> Warning: disturbing content from the mind of a pedophile

"Where are we going anyway?" Roy examined the tip of a new type of arrow he had made, one that functioned to knock his target unconscious for a short while.

He glanced up at his partner, who was gripping the wheel so tightly that his knuckles were stark white. The archer knew he shouldn't have let Jason drive, but the other man had been adamant that it would be him. Briefly, Roy wondered if he even had a driver's license. He didn't think so. After all, he wasn't legally alive anymore, and he had died before he had gotten one. That didn't stop him, especially since they were riding in the Batmobile. Roy seriously doubted any GCPD officer had enough balls to try to pull such an iconic car over.

Jason shot him a quick glance before glaring back out the window. "GCPD."

"You can't go there dressed as Red Hood."

"Watch me."

"No." Roy shook his head and straightened in his seat. "Nothing good will come from going there."

Jason scoffed. "I think a few pedophiles with bullets in their heads sounds like a good thing."

He sighed. "I'm not saying that I don't wish they were dead, but there will be a lot of people trying to stop you. You don't have any plan that I know of."

Roy knew that he was being reckless. Jason had seen all the evidence on Kyle Haussman put together in one pile, and he saw that someone, probably Bruce, had viewed his specific films. Now, he was furious, and Roy knew he had every right to be. Jason had been kept from this case for a good reason. That didn't mean that Bruce had to keep him completely in the dark. Jason would not regret killing these monsters, and Roy wouldn't regret not stopping him. Hell, he would love to be an accessory or an accomplice or even a fellow assassin. 

"I don't need one. They're all a bunch of monkeys anyway."

He bit his lip. "It'd probably have been a lot easier if you stole the Batman suit too. At least then you'd be able to get a hell of a lot closer before the police realize what's up."

"No, no, don't even think about that. Don't you fucking dare. I'm not wearing the goddamn Batman suit."

Roy moved carefully and put an arm on Jason's shoulder. There was no way he would be able to talk his boyfriend out of this; he was far too stubborn. "Still. If we're going to do this, we have to have a plan, Hood, and you'll have to go in civilian clothing. No guns." He paused as Jason glared at him. "Don't give me that look. The police will know you have it."

* * *

Kyle was bored. A lot of people had been coming and going the last few days: different officers, the commissioner, his lawyer, and even Batman himself. He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose; how the hell was he going to get out of this? He had been relying on getting immunity as a tradeoff for being an informant, but somehow, literal Batman already knew all his secrets. How could he? Unless he too recognized the child that had wound up in Bruce Wayne's care, he would have had no idea. How could the Bat have figured so much out from so little information?

Perhaps one of his lovelies had spoken to the vigilante behind his back. That wouldn't do, would it? They had all promised to keep their game secret after all. Even though it was an oath they had made while they were young children, Kyle had expected them to keep it either out of fear or shame, so who had spilled the beans this time? Who did he have to punish? He didn't like tattle tales.

He sank into his seat, wondering which child had grown into the traitor. He honestly couldn't see any of them doing it. While they had been in his care, they had all been so eager to keep it a secret, to have something that was _theirs_ and not anyone else's, and a lot of them depended on Kyle for a lot too. If they had broken that promise, Kyle wouldn't have been able to continue on as their babysitter (even if the children hadn't known that at the time). Besides, why would they have told anyone? There was nothing _wrong_ going on at all. He was just playing around.

Over the years, he had gotten a few favorites, and those were the ones he checked up on most often. A lot of them were dead now, most of them having died due to complications from HIV or AIDS. It made sense; after all, most of his clients came to him because he provided his babysitting services for free. If they couldn't afford to pay someone for that, they likely couldn't afford taking their child to a hospital either. Whatever the case may be; it was still quite unfortunate. Blue jay had died in different, far more mysterious circumstances though. He couldn't help but be intrigued by it. He had never expected Jason Todd to wind up as the adopted son to the richest man in Gotham; most socialites looked at the street rats as though they were inferior. That was how he knew that Bruce Wayne was somehow in on it as well. He would never had adopted him otherwise. Besides, he had another kid, one who looked quite similar to Jason, who had moved out beforehand. Dick, he believe their name was. Perhaps he had a type? Hell, nowadays, he had even more children who looked quite similar was well.

Whatever. He wouldn't judge the man.

There were some other people in the holding cells, most of them people from his friend group who had also gotten sold out. Kyle briefly wondered if that first informant was still in custody, and if so, where he could find her. He had the strangest urge to ring her neck. He couldn't talk to them either. All of them were being kept in separate cells, so they wouldn't be able to make up a good story amongst themselves to tell during their future interrogations. Kyle didn't care. He didn't know which one of them betrayed them, so he found that he didn't want to talk to any of them at all.

It was in times of complete boredom that he thought about his kids. Not biological kids, mind you, but the ones that he opened his apartment to out of the goodness of his heart. It was only fair that they pay him back in some way; they had to earn their keep. People would often wonder why in hell he was attracted to minors like that. Well, they were always so innocent. They never knew what they were doing at first, and Kyle was always happy to teach them. And their skin was usually free of scars and other marks that time left. It was a perfect, blank slate that he could work on. He liked children that were small too, liked to be able to hold them down and know that there was no way they would be able to escape from him. They could struggle. They often did, but none of them ever broke free from his grasps. Once they grew up too much for his liking, he oftentimes let them go. The ones that were small for their age often stayed with him longer than the others though.

He knew that their small forms were often caused by neglect from their parents, and that often made him furious. Could they not see just how perfect they were? They deserved to be taken care of, not abused. Those children typically suffered from long term malnutrition, and while that wasn't necessarily uncommon in Gotham, it still infuriated him to no end. Children were the true treasure in this world: perfect, unblemished, valuable. Other people just didn't seem to have the same opinion as him. Strange, it was.

Vaguely, he heard an announcement come on, but he ignored it. They were always directed at officers or detectives or whatever, and since he was still in his holding cell, there would be nothing he could do to figure out what was going on. He learned that listening in gave him too much curiosity, and he hated it when those curiosities went unsettled. He could see from between the bars and the thick glass wall that there were people, both civilian and not, milling about the precinct, all of them doing the same sort of business that happened every single day. Kyle almost wished he was in interrogation, anything to relieve himself of this never ending boredom.

He ran a hand over his face and groaned, wiping the sweat off. Someone had fucked with the thermostat again probably; he hated it when that happened. He would be able to deal with it though; all he had to do was sink even further into his thoughts. In times like these, he would picture some of the children he didn't see anymore and likely never would again, usually his favorites and usually the ones who had passed on. He'd get brief flashes of things: a little girl's pigtails, bright blue eyes, and the loveliest smiles he had ever seen before in his life. They were all so innocent, not knowing much of the cruelty that came from Gotham. Kyle knew a lot about it; hell, he had been subjected to that Gotham-brand justice through Batman and a life-changing injury. He supposed he should be thanking the Bat though. Without that injury, he would never have been allowed to work from home, and without that, he would have never been able to babysit as much as he did.

So, uh, thanks Batman. He snorted, going back to his thoughts and ignoring the growing tightness in his jeans. There was nothing he would be able to do about that at the time.

He heard a lot of commotion going on to the right of him, and he peered his eyes open and moved to the front of his cell. Police officers were rolling out the yellow tape around the door to the cell three down from him and pushing the civilians back. He frowned. Had someone died? He wasn't sure who was in that cell or how they would've died. Suicide, perhaps, as Kyle couldn't see how anyone could have gotten past all of the officers with that intent and actually succeed. The civilians were dispersing for the most part now, only a few of them sticking around the yellow tape trying to see what had happened. Two of them came to a halt right outside Kyle's cell, but he pretended not to notice them.

One of them had red hair, and the other, black with a streak of white. Was that a trend right now? He had no idea what the young adults were doing these days. They were talking to each other quietly, quiet enough that he couldn't hear them. The taller of the two seemed to be in distress, and the other was radiating concern. Eventually, the taller of the two turned towards Kyle and stalked furiously over to him, but he stopped a few feet away from the door.

He looked familiar, but Kyle couldn't place where he had seen him before. His eyes almost seemed to glow with anger, a fierce shade of green burning into his very soul. What did this man have against him? Kyle didn't think that the general public knew of his charges yet, so who the hell was this guy? He nervously watched the man's fists fidget, tightening and untightening. Was he trying to be threatening? Because if so, it was fucking working. He wished that the dude would fuck off.

"Come on," he heard the red haired man say, and the shorter of the two pulled the other's arm.

The taller guy brushed it off, reaching into his pocket. Kyle tensed, but he didn't know why he was doing that. This guy was a civilian; he didn't have the keys to the holding cell and therefore could not touch him. He still felt...dangerous though. Whatever. The glass was bulletproof, so he was safe.

The man's hands were shaking. He only realized this after a few moments, but they were shaking an alarming amount. Was this dude, like, a parent or something? Kyle honestly couldn't figure it out, but he looked so goddamn familiar that he couldn't stand it. The man's shaking was spreading though, going up his arms and down his torso, and the red haired man's pulling became more and more insistent. Perhaps the man had seen the crime scene and was in shock or something. Kyle didn't know, and Kyle couldn't care less. Every now and then his eyes would flash downwards, and Kyle soon looked down as well. It seemed as though his thoughts and fantasies from earlier were still having an effect on his body. He smirked a bit; what, so this guy couldn't handle seeing an erection? Grow up.

Eventually, the man's shaking covered his whole body, and he twisted his face in a way that Kyle knew was meant to keep back tears. His knees buckled a little, and finally, the shorter of the two was able to drag him away.

He blinked, turning and going back to the bench at the back of the cell.

Well, that was weird.

Kyle went back to his thoughts.


	8. Back to Batman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce hears of what happened

The phone rang only minutes before the Bats would have ran out of the cave. It wasn't a landline or anything but instead the phone that Batman often used if someone from the GCPD, namely Commissioner Gordon, wanted to get in touch with him, so it had no connection to Bruce Wayne at all. The group of vigilantes stared at it for a few moments, dumbstruck, as it wasn't used very often, but eventually, Bruce shook himself out of his stupor and picked it up.

"Batman here." He automatically put on his deep, gruff voice characteristic of his vigilante identity.

 _"Oh, good, you're here."_ As expected, it was the commissioner. _"Listen, something's come up with the case."_

The younger vigilantes slowly crept closer to Batman, ears straining as they tried to listen in on the conversation. Bruce didn't stop them.

"And that is?"

_"Frances Smith is dead."_

Dick's eyes flicked over to Tim's. It couldn't be a coincidence that one of the pedophiles in custody died just as Jason went missing. Red Hood had never gone easy on people who hurt children, and he could see how this would have angered him. Still, it would have been better if he hadn't killed the woman. While he didn't give two shits about what happened to her, they might have been able to divulge more information from Smith.

Tim, on the other hand, was thinking something slightly different. Was Frances Smith one of the people who personally hurt Jason? Or was she just the first one he saw? Honestly, he had expected his older brother to go after Kyle Haussman first, but at the same time, he didn't know the whole story. However, he knew that Jason had spent the majority of his time on the streets selling his body. Who knew how many of these people he came into contact with during that time? Squeezing his eyes shut, he pinched the bridge of his nose tightly. It made him feel sick just thinking about it.

"And the killer?"

 _"No idea. The entire investigation was a sham. No one bothered shutting the exits to the precinct, so the killer was long gone before they started questioning people."_ Gordon sounded so very, very tired, but he wasn't all too surprised by the incompetence of the GCPD officers.

"Did you look at the security footage?"

_"I have people going through it now."_

"Good." Bruce hung up, already having a very good idea as to who the killer was, but he wasn't going to say anything about it at the time.

It was silent for a moment as the Bats just stared at each other. None of them wanted to make any accusations towards Jason. If it even was him, they weren't going to be angry at him anyway. Maybe a bit annoyed, but they had all secretly wished that these pedophiles would die several times over the duration of their investigation.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Steph asked, and they all immediately knew who she was talking about.

Tim shrugged, "Eventually, yes."

"Why did Todd stop at only Smith?" Damian wondered out loud since all of them knew that Todd was the killer. "Surely, it would have been easier for him to take out all of them at once?"

"Maybe something stopped him." Dick shrugged. 

The younger boy looked up to his older brother. "Like what?"

He floundered a bit, not really knowing how to answer the question. The GCPD certainly wouldn't have been enough for Jason to pull back, so what was?

"Fear." Cass nodded her head solemnly. 

Tim turned around to face her so quickly that the world spun. Did she know? Cass always seemed to know much more than she let on; he could see it in her eyes. When she didn't explain further, his eyes fell to the floor.

"Tt, what would Todd have to fear from them?" Damian scoffed. "They're unarmed, locked up, and the most pathetic specimens of humanity I've encountered in a long time."

Dick frowned, his brow furrowing as he tried to make sense of Cass's hypothesis. "Maybe he would be afraid of what we'd do if he killed all of them? We haven't exactly had the best reactions before."

"That never stopped him, and he certainly isn't afraid of us." Steph groaned.

"Not us." Cass agreed. "Brother...panicked."

It was not lost on Tim that Bruce was remaining quiet, suspiciously quiet, but as he already knew the reason why he was doing so, he didn't bring it to anyone's attention. If he hadn't already been in the know, he would've certainly commented, but as long as his siblings didn't notice, everything would be okay.

"But why would he panic?" The eldest brother still looked confused, but he was still taking advantage of his sister's seemingly newfound seer ability. "He's...killed... a lot of targets who are much more dangerous before."

"He does not dream happy."

Tim nodded in agreement. "But how does that relate to feeling afraid while awake?"

"Ask." Cass cocked her head to the side, gesturing towards where the missing Batmobile was turning up. Speaking of the Devil.

It was Roy who got out first from the driver's seat, but he didn't acknowledge any of the Bats who were just standing and staring at him. Instead, he walked around to the passenger's side, opened the door, and dragged his partner's limp form out of it.

Dick stood up instantly, concern blooming on his face. "Roy, what happened?" He moved over to help, but Roy lifted his hand to his face.

"Listen, Jaybird is tired as fuck and has had a long day. We are going to _sleep_ now, got it?" Roy's eyes flicked between them all, glaring holes into their heads and daring them to question them. It was only noon, but god damn it, the day had been long.

"Of course," the older brother moved to support Jason's other shoulder.

He was awake. At least, his eyes were open, but he didn't seem to be very aware of what was going on around him at the moment. His eyes were glazed over, shinier than Dick could remember ever seeing them. Clearly, Jason was not seeing reality the same way they were at the moment, but why was his brother stuck in this seemingly dissociative state? He'd killed people before. Killing one more shouldn't have sent him over the edge, so what was it?

As soon as the group of them made it to Jason and Roy's room, Roy kicked him out, set on caring for his boyfriend alone. Dick was kind of offended at that. After all, he _was_ Jason's older brother, so it was his job to make sure he was okay. He might not have done so very well in the past, but by hell was he determined to do better now. Being kicked out like that...wasn't helpful in achieving those goals. He wandered around for a bit, lost in these thoughts, and eventually ended up back in the Batcave where he had come from.

"Scared." Cass repeated, and this time, there were no arguments from the other Bats.

"What caused this fear?" Damian narrowed his eyes, glaring at nothing. "Todd is not one to be afraid for no reason."

She didn't speak anymore, just staring at her younger brother. Cass had already told them to just ask Jason, so why couldn't they just do that? Once he woke up, of course; Cass was not going to deprive him of any needed sleep. Her brothers were already unhealthy enough as is.

The youngest stood abruptly, turning on his heel to the stairs that led up to Wayne manor and all but marching towards them.

"Where are you going, Dami?" Dick caught up to him with a short jog.

"I need to interrogate Harper. He knows more than he's saying."

The eldest's eyes widened, and he caught Damian's arm quickly, pulling him back towards the group. The younger brother snarled but oddly enough did not fight back as much as Dick had expected he would. Hmm. Weird.

"Roy and Jason are sleeping. If you get Roy up, you'll probably wake Jason up too."

"We need to know."

"And we can get those answers _later._ " 

Damian grumbled a bit, clearly not a very patient boy, and ripped his arm out of Dick's strong grip. "There is something wrong here."

"Bad," Cass agreed.

Dick flicked his eyes across the room, pausing for a moment on each member of his family. His gaze lingered on Bruce. "You haven't said very much at all, B."

"I have nothing to say." Bruce replied coolly.

"Not even a word of concern for your son?"

"I am very much concerned about Jason's well-being, Dick." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But there is nothing to be done until he is awake."

Dick clenched his fists by his sides. "You're keeping secrets again. You know why Jason is acting the way he is." He accused.

"They are not Master Bruce's secrets to tell." Alfred came to his aid, carefully wording his sentence to shift the attention off of the father.

"You know them too?" The eldest Wayne son looked so crushed that both Bruce and Alfred visibly winced. "Why doesn't he trust me with things? I'm trying to be better!"

"Hard for him." Cass interjected, once again the voice of wisdom. "He...tries."

Stephanie hadn't moved from where she was sitting. She didn't look happy at all, which looked weird on her, but honestly, she had no reason to be happy. "It's going to be something glaringly obvious, isn't it? Something that once we know about, we'll feel like idiots for not noticing earlier."

Bruce turned back to the Batcomputer, typing a few things up that the rest just couldn't see. "I need to keep a closer eye on him...We can't have him kill every single one of them."

"For some reason, after that, I don't know if he's going to want a repeat performance." Tim said dryly. "Not for a while at least."

Jason never liked to be vulnerable, and he certainly didn't like to look vulnerable either. He had basically fully broken down either in the precinct or on the way back from it (Tim was willing to bet the former). Sure, Jason would probably go back to take care of Haussman at some point. Tim would be surprised if he didn't, but it would take some time. He'd need to build back up his confidence, make a plan, and figure out how to avoid another breakdown.

Suddenly, Tim realized that Jason didn't know that he knew about what had happened to him. Would he be mad with Tim for figuring it out? Tim shook his head. He didn't think so. Ashamed, maybe, but Jason probably wouldn't get mad at him for thinking things through.

"Father, you must tell us if it is something bad." Damian demanded. "We deserve to know the details of what exactly is going on in this case."

"No, Damian, I can't tell you." This conversations seemed to be aging Bruce by years. He looked tired, slowly slumping over in his chair as though he was just about to give up.

The younger boy seemed to sense this. "How can we be expected to work this case correctly if we don't know everything that is going on?"

"You know enough."

"We do not! We did not expect Todd to go out and kill one of our culprits, so clearly, there is an important piece missing in this puzzle." Damian eyed his father. "I will figure out what it is."

Dick sent his brother a warning glance. "Damian, don't do anything that would upset him please."

"Fine. But you are on my side?"

"Clearly." He sent a look towards Bruce that he didn't like one bit. "I have no idea what happened, but clearly, it was something serious enough that we need to know about it. Something deeply triggered Jay today...we need to figure out what it was, so we can prevent him from being exposed to it again."

Steph nodded her head. "And we can't be sure that Jason will tell us the truth when we ask. He's always been...shifty with things that bother him."

Alfred and Bruce looked at each other in the eyes for a few moments, but Alfred was the one to speak. "I will ask that Master Jason be truthful with you, but I will not betray his trust by telling you without his permission."

That seemed to be enough for Dick. "Thanks, Alfie."

Tim wasn't too sure how well that would go, but he knew that Alfred was the one most likely to get Jason to talk to them. Bruce certainly wouldn't be able to get Jason to spill. Hell, Tim would bet good money that Jason wished Bruce _didn't_ know about it now. They just didn't have the same relationship that they did before Jason died. Tim glanced down at the floor a bit. He hoped that Jason and Roy would sleep well. Once they did wake up, there would clearly be a lot of emotional turmoil, and Jason didn't deal with that well on a good day.

For now, all was quiet in Wayne manor.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!


End file.
